Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Pours a clear amber color with a thin head that fades quickly. Aroma of big heavy slightly sweet malts bordering on raisin like fruits and a bit of toast. The taste is sweet malts, caramel and some faint green apple in the finish as well as some toasted malts. Medium bodied. Tastes like malt liquor at first, then it transitions into a sweeter quality. Finishes like dark fruit. Not too bad if you like sweet beer.

A: Nice amber color with strong golden hues. Pours a small head that falls into almost nothing very quickly.

S: Smells like alcohol and bread. Some sweet clove and banana nose get into the action too.

T: The clove/banana from the initial smell carries over into the taste. There are some sweet prune elements as well as a taste like Madeira or Marsala wine. Aftertaste fades into a strange bitter yeast flavor with a strange element I can't pinpoint. Not quite metal but like that.

M: In this category it almost feels like I am drinking a nice Chimay. Good texture and viscosity.

D: I had no problem finishing the bottle but I probably wouldn't seek this one out again.

This beer pours a clear, pale golden copper colour, with one finger of tight soapy off-white head, which settles quickly to a thin cap, leaving no evidence in the way of lace. It smells of sweet bready malt, earthy, somewhat spicy hops, and faintly nail-polish like alcohol. The taste is sweet grainy malt, some dark, sugary fruit, a bit of spiced caramel apple, and surprisingly mild warming alcohol. The carbonation is moderate to low, the body medium weight, mostly attributable to the various sugary components, and consequently smooth. It finishes still sweet, with a minor flare-up of the boozy sort.

A somewhat interesting tipple, much like this brewery's other strong offering. While malt-liquor-ish in the beginning, it turns into a fairly even, if still saccharine, affair. Hides the booze well, and is cheap, with some minor hints at greater aspirations.

Once more, my local, in-person trader, tone77, has dropped off something new and different for me to try. Prost!

From the bottle: "Original blend of traditional Polish recipe".

My pour netted a finger of fizzing tawny head with mild retention. Color was a deep, coppery-amber (SRM = > 13, < 17) with NE-quality clarity. Nose was very malty-sweet with a hint of fusel alcohol. Hmmm. Mouthfeel was thin, not necessarily watery, but very light-bodied and the taste was very sweet, almost sugary, on the tongue. The finish held a little bit of heat, but it was still mostly what I would characterize as sweet in a beer. This was not my first encounter with the style and there are far worse out there, I can assure you. That said, I am not recommending it, either. It is another crappy style and other than wanting to review it from a CAN, one is more than enough. It is more of a novelty than anything else.

This was an odd one. Poured into a 22 oz. mug, there was 3 fingers of active foam with large bubbles. Within a minute or so, it was completely still with no head. Typically that would seem like a sign of infection, but the other aspects of the beer were ok. It looked like juice or cider in the glass.

Oddly enough the first whiff I got reminded me of bourbon. Sour mash sweetness, wet wood, and earthy. Later it was sweet and appley.

Sort of astringent and undercarbonated, sweet with poorly masked booze. It does remind me of cookies with dried apple. Sweet with some odd spices, maybe nutmeg. Dry aftertaste from the alcohol. At $1.79 this might be a better deal than Night Train, but it's about as drinkable. I think my curiosity for obscure Polish beers is satiated... at least for the time being.

A: The beer is crystal clear yellow in color and has a moderate amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a quarter finger high white head that died down, leaving a thin layer of bubbles covering the surface and a collar around the edge of the glass.S: Light aromas of fusel alcohol and apples are present in the nose.T: The overall taste has slight hints of sweetness along with notes of apples, adjunct malts and alcohol, the latter of which lingers through the finish. No bitterness is perceptible.M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.O: This beer isn't very tasty and you can definitely notice some of the alcohol in the smell and taste. It is reminiscent of an American Malt Liquor.

Poured from a brown 16.9 oz. bottle. Has a rich golden color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of malts, some sweetness. Taste is of alcohol, some malts, alcohol, a bit of sweetness, more alcohol. Feels light in the mouth and overall nothing to recommend about this beer.

Picked up a bottle at Srodek's in Hamtramck along with two and a half pounds of amazing Kielbasa.

I see a backwards date and hope it's wrong 07/22/11. If that's accurate the trip from Poland has been a long one, 8+ months. Pours clear light amber very little head. Has a cidery sweet smell common with these Euro Strongs. More apple-cidery sweetness with corny alcohol finish. Quickly dissipates with a cider alcohol after taste.

This is what I've come to expect with Euro-strongs: high ABV with a slightly better and more flavorful taste than say a Steel Reserve.

Ruby amber with a creamy tan head that shrinks to a film pretty quickly and leaves little blobs of lace on the glass. The aroma consists of grain, butterscotch, fusel alcohol and green apple. Sweet, candied corn and green apple skin with a shot of vodka, yikes. Wimpy and sugary mouthfeel with a hit of alcoholic warmth in the finish. Karpackie Super is a sub-par Polish Malt Liquor at best.

Out of a bottle I was inspired to purchase by my attractive Polish friend this Polish beer was a light amber color with one finger of white head that left spots of lacing briefly before the head disappeared completely. The aroma was of booze, dry grains and bread. The flavors were mostly of corn and adjunct grains, booze, dry grains and bread along with a little hoppy bitterness on the finish. Not very distinct and not much better than an American malt liquor which is a shame considering the style (Euro Strong Lager) can rise far above that level. Still, the mouthfeel was good, the body medium and the carbonation appropriate. Easy enough to drink but nothing worth returning too.

Pours a clean orange-ish/ yellow color with an off white head. In the aroma, small hints of fruit and a small roast. In the taste, dry fruitiness in a standard European lager with some boozyness at the end. A small bitter and medium bodied mouthfeel, with a semi dry fruity aftertaste. Nice fruitiness, but a bit boozy.

Pours a lifeless pale amber color, no head. Aromas of fusel alcohol, boozy fruits, stale grain and a floral whiff of hops. In the taste, sugary sweet, definitely strong alcohol presence and dingy fruits and vegetation. Some buttery diacetyl is noticed, a sloppy byproduct of overworked lager yeast. More alcohol, harsh grains and some fruityness. Mouthfeel is medium to light bodied, thin but with a sting of carbonation. Overall, this brew was a beast, and only a malt liquor aficionado would I recommend this to.

Sunny tangerine with bright amber edges and a fluffy crown of pale khaki colored foam that filled almost half the glass on the initial pour. The head lasts acceptably long, looks decent while deflating, and does an okay job with lace.

The nose has the typical pale malty, musky Euro hoppy and grain alcohol character of the style. It's pretty weak, which probably a good thing, and doesn't deliver much in the way of nastiness.

Karpackie Super is a fairly lackluster Polish strong lager that tastes less potent than most brews of this ilk. This bottle is about one month short of the 'best by' date, though it probably wasn't appreciably better immediately after bottling.

Specifics include sugared grains (mostly corn), an underwhelming grassy hoppiness, a dash of minerals, and a shot of Wyborowa. More hops, for both flavor and bitterness, would fix this lager right up. It still wouldn't be any better than average.

The underbubbled mouthfeel is part of the problem. The beer has no presence at all. It simply washes over the tongue without making any sort of sensory impact.

Karpackie isn't Super. Nor is it Duper. If you have extreme requirements, my suggestion is to drink beer that is actually extreme. This one is instantly forgettable and isn't worth the purchase price, no matter what it might be.